CONDUCTING COMPOSITE FILMS BASED ON POLYPYRROLE AND CROSS-LINKED POLY(STYRENE BUTYL ACRYLATE HYDROXYETHYL ACRYLATE)

Polypyrrole/crosslinked poly(styrene-butyl acrylate-hydroxyethyl acryl ate) (PSBH) conductive composite films were designed to obtain high co nductivity and good mechanical properties, and were prepared by vapor- phase polymerization of pyrrole within the silicon-crosslinked PSBH ne twork using anhydrous ferric chloride as oxidant. The properties of th e conducting composite film, such as conductivity, were strongly depen dent on their synthetic conditions, such as the amount of ferric chlor ide and tetraethyl orthosilicate and the nature and weight ratio of th e solvent in pyrrole solution. Above all, the most interesting point w as the effect that solvent in pyrrole solution had on the conductivity . Using methanol as solvent, the conductivity was as high as 15 S/cm, increased by two orders of magnitude as compared with that without sol vent. The conducting composite exhibited good mechanical properties (t ensile strength, 10.3 MPa; Young's modulus, 178.9 MPa; elongation yiel d, 170%). (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.